A talk given by the Executive Director of the Mexican Hass Avocado Importers Association, Ron Campbell, compellingly documented the monetary and employment benefits of the export of Hass avocados for both the exporting country, Mexico, and the importing country, the USA. This case study detailed how implementing just under 20 key ISPMs had enabled avocado exporters from the Mexican state of Michoacán to gain access to US markets, first in the northern most states of the US and over time to the whole country. While implementation of these standards involved many steps and required significant effort, the benefits to both Mexico and the USA were thousands of jobs across the supply chain and billions of dollars in returns.

The 12th Session of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures, Republic of Korea (Photo: CABI)

The 12th Session of the Commission on Phytosanitary Measures opened today in Incheon, Republic of Korea. This is significant as it is the first time that the event is being hosted outside of Rome by a member country of the International Plant Protection Convention. This year’s theme is “Plant Health and Trade Facilitation”, so this topic featured prominently during the opening remarks from Mr. Bong-Kyun Park, Commissioner of Animal and Plant Quarantine and Inspection (APQI), and in the keynote address by Mr. Kunio Mikuriya, Secretary General of the World Customs Organization. Other topics under discussion on the first day of the CPM included proposals for dealing with emerging pest issues requiring global action; for building strategic partnerships with interested stakeholders such as industry groups; and for an ambitious new Strategic Framework for 2020 – 2030.

Follow

Subscribe

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Sign up for fall armyworm updates

If you would like to hear about the latest fall armyworm news from CABI please sign up here.

Contribute

If you are active in the field of plant health or development and would like to contribute to the Plantwise Blog, please contact Donna Hutchinson. We are happy to post any credible articles that we think would be of interest to our readership.

Views expressed in contributions do not necessarily reflect official CABI or Plantwise positions.